The New York Times Book of World War II, 1939-1945

by The New York Times

  APRIL 2, 1941

  BRITISH GIRLS HERE EXCITED BY BUTTER

  SILK IS ALSO THRILLING

  New York received an enthusiastic vote of approval yesterday from twenty “convoy-weary” British models, who arrived by ship and by train.

  But mystery as ironclad as that which surrounds the next move of the R.A.F. cloaked twenty-four cases of clothing that arrived with three models and three representatives of the British Department of Overseas Trade on the Dutch freight and passenger ship Bodegraven, and represent the latest fashion creations from London.

  But for a private preview showing given before the King and Queen in February, the costumes by nine French and English houses in London are not to be exhibited until they arrive in a few weeks in Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. According to William Young and C. J. Roberts of the D.O.T., “this is the first official trade mission to cross the ocean in an attempt to establish London as the heart of the fashion world and this showing is especially for South America.”

  Vollying light-hearted banter from the moment of their arrival until it was muffled under dryers in a mass recoiffing, hair-do expedition, the young models dismissed the subject of fashions. From brief murmurings of Empire styles and bouffant skirts they turned to talk of buying all the fresh vegetables and silk stockings in sight.

  Seventeen who arrived in Grand Central Terminal at 12:45 P.M. came from Halifax, where they landed Monday, were excited over the “grandeur” of the train and terminal and the large portions of butter obtainable in restaurants. “Just about a whole week’s ration in one serving,” they marveled.

  Met soon after their arrival at the station by the three others, the models joked about the long woolen socks many were wearing. The ships were very cold, and besides, silk stockings are not for sale now in England, they explained. They chided each other over “pre-war” dresses they were wearing.

  “We’re not spending our time buying dresses,” several declared.

  Asked if modeling was a glamorous and gift-receiving career in London, they replied: “Definitely and unfortunately not.” “Anyway, at this point, we’d prefer a string of onions to one of pearls,” one of them said.

  In their eleven days here they want to see “everything.” Skyscrapers were a first “must” for Miss Cynthia A. Maughan, niece of Somerset Maughan. Others said they intended to make a short visit to Washington to see the Lincoln Memorial and the capital. After their trip to South America they will return to England, probably in June. A recent bill in England calls for the conscription of all women over 18, it was explained.

  APRIL 4, 1941

  BRITISH PUSHING ON FOR ADDIS ABABA

  ITALIANS RETREAT RAPIDLY

  Morale Is Held Deteriorating Under Air Bombing

  Special Cable to The New York Times.

  CAIRO, Egypt, April 3—British and Indian forces, rolling rapidly southward from Asmara in Eritrea toward Adowa in Ethiopia today, found many groups of Italians along the road waiting to surrender, and the total of prisoners was increased over the already large figure.

  The Italians were badly disorganized and were retreating with little regard for precautions of defense, abandoning quantities of guns and other war materiel to the British.

  The rising tide of British occupation edged farther into East Africa: In the north retreating Fascisti were bombed and strafed south of Asmara (1). British troops marching on Addis Ababa captured Miesso, west of Diredawa (2) and 180 miles from the capital. In Southern Ethiopia another column took Soroppa (3). Shading indicated approximate area held by British.

  The state of Italian morale was illustrated by the situation at Asmara after the main Italian force had moved south. Native troops, probably Ethiopians, left the city and began a desert riot that became so dangerous that the police chief and a priest went out to ask the British to enter to protect the white citizens of that city of 100,000, which is the administrative capital of Eritrea.

  Some British forces were investigating the situation around Massawa today, but that port and Assab, farther south, were believed here to have been evacuated. An indication of this came from a Royal Air Force report that British planes had bombed and strafed trucks along the road from Assab to Dessye in Ethiopia.

  [British troops have already taken 6,000 Italian prisoners in the vicinity of Massawa and the occupation of that city is imminent, the British Broadcasting Corporation said last night in a statement recorded here by the National Broadcasting Company.]

  The morale of the Italians retreating south from Asmara was being pushed nearer and nearer to the breaking point by constant British bombing and strafing. “Free French” forces, meanwhile, bombed an Italian encampment on the road between Aksum and Adowa.

  RAILROAD TOWN CAPTURED

  African advance troops captured the fire and bomb-razed town of Miesso, 180 miles east of Addis Ababa along the Jibuti railroad. The South African Air Force made the place a shambles during the process of blasting Italian trains, and the station was ablaze for days.

  The Italians were retreating rapidly. There was some skirmishing, but the Awash River, ninety miles farther west, appears to be the first place where a stand is likely to be made.

  Although it is possible that Italian morale will crack and the Fascist forces will disintegrate before Addis Ababa falls, the British are already considering the possibility that the Italians may retreat toward Dessye or Gondar. The latter place, north of Lake Tana, is easy to isolate and difficult to capture because the country is rough and has positions guarded by pillboxes, hidden gun emplacements and other modern defenses.

  The British may, however, cut off and surround the Italians before any such move can be completed, and it seems probable that the Italians will fight somewhere in the Addis Ababa region because of the tremendous damage to the vestiges of Italian prestige that the fall of the Ethiopian capital would entail.

  APRIL 6, 1941

  YUGOSLAVIA FIGHTS

  Belgrade Has Air Raid as Armies Resist

  DRIVE FROM BULGARIA

  By RAY BROCK

  Wireless to The New York Times.

  BELGRADE, Yugoslavia, April 6—At 3:25 o’clock this morning the air-raid sirens in Belgrade sounded an alarm. For the Yugoslavs it was the first indication that the nation was at war.

  An hour later, at 4:32, two Yugoslav fighter planes appeared over the city, flying in an easterly direction. They came from the Zemun airdrome. Two more fighter planes appeared a short time later.

  [At this point wireless connections with Belgrade were cut.]

  APRIL 12, 1941

  NAZIS AT BELGRADE!

  Another Force Occupies Zagreb and Ljubljana—Battle in the South

  ITALIANS STOPPED

  By DANIEL T. BRIGHAM

  By Telephone to The New York Times

  BERNE, Switzerland, April 11—Two heavy German columns pushing down the Sava and Drava valleys in Yugoslavia, from the Austro-Italian frontier and down the valley of the Mur from Graz during the last twenty-four hours have succeeded in occupying a line running roughly southeast by east through Ljubljana and Zagreb eastward.

  Another column, moving westward, presumably from Virset, at the Rumanian border, have arrived on the outskirts of the devastated city of Belgrade. That this column had effected a junction with the Ljubljana-Zagreb column was denied in reports reaching Berne last night.

  In the southeast the situation was reported to be “stationary,” with Germans vainly trying to force the Kachanik Pass, where the Bulgarians were held in 1915. In many respects today’s lines recall those of that campaign. If the Yugoslavs hold they threaten the German bases for the Tetovo action at Skolpje; if they are trapped the possibilities of resistance in the Kosovopolj Valley toward the flat plains in the north are restricted, to say the least.

  ITALIANS DRIVEN BACK

  Four attempts by the Italians in Albania to effect a sortie through the Rara Orman heights in an attempt to join the Germans pushing down the Tetovo were driven back with
“heavy losses to the attackers.”

  With the occupation or Zagreb and Belgrade it was understood here the Yugoslav Fourth Army on the west, based at Zagreb, and the First Army on the east, based at Novi Sad, had withdrawn according to plans, moving southward and toward the center from their original position toward a fixed point probably south of Brad and the Sava River. It was reported that those armies withdrew fighting only small rear-guard actions.

  The Yugoslav High Command communiqué covering operations up to noon yesterday and dated “Somewhere in Yugoslavia” said “the enemy continued his advances in the valley of the Morava, occupying Paracin and Cuprija. On the northern front,” It said, “the enemy had little success on the Virovltitza sector, where he was halted by the vigilant action of our troops.”

  “Some activity” on the Italian front in the northwest was reported. “Parachute troops, dropped in different places, were all surrounded and captured,” the communiqué said.

  After remarking, “No change in the situation in Albania,” the communiqué added that “owing to poor weather conditions aerial activity was restricted.”

  The drive down Morava Valley was being made from Nish, captured yesterday by motorized forces under General Paul von Kleist. Yugoslav military circles pointed out, however, that the Morava Valley was still east of the main defensive positions and that, although the situation was serious, it was not disastrous.

  Contact with the Hungarian border was still maintained, as proved by the reports of frequent clashes between frontier guards on both sides of the line yesterday. These actions, it was reported here, were brought about by Hungarian units attempting to advance into Yugoslav territory and, on encountering Yugoslav units, opening fire.

  The Yugoslavs reported they returned this fire with heavy machine-guns and “other automatic arms.” There were casualties on both sides.

  Despite the terrific destruction inflicted upon Belgrade during five German air raids, order was rapidly being restored there yesterday. Communications were being re-established and food and health services restored. By order of General Krsisch, civilian evacuation ceased and refugees, after having spent four days and three nights in fields to avoid aerial bombardment, were returning.

  It is reported that neutral diplomatic intervention succeeded in extracting a promise from the Germans that Belgrade would be spared further bombardment. There was no confirmation of this.

  Civilians remove rubble after a German armed forces attack on Belgrade, Yugoslavia, 1941.

  APRIL 27, 1941

  Letters to the Editor

  IRAQ DANGER SPOT

  MANY FACTORS INDICATE NEED FOR WATCHFULNESS

  To the Editor of The New York Times:

  While events in Iraq and other Arab States are temporarily overshadowed by the war in the Balkans, there is little doubt that they will assume crucial importance in the next phase of the world struggle between the British Empire and the Axis powers.

  The recent coup d’état in Iraq deposed the pro-British government of General Taha al Hashimi and the regency of Prince Abdul Ilah and set up an ultranationalist government under the Premiership of Rashid Ali al Gailani, Sunni Moslem religious leader, revered by millions of Sunnis in Iraq, Persia and India. He has been in and out of the Iraqi Cabinet several times in the past, and while dispatches describe him as a friend of the Axis powers the truth of the matter is that he is pro-nationalist and anti-foreign.

  German emissaries headed by the astute Franz von Papen, in Ankara, with the active collaboration of the shrewd Grubba, German Consul General in Baghdad, are undoubtedly leaving no stone unturned to win the Iraqis, but there are deeper rooted factors than a mere tug-of-war for Arab friendship. It is absurd to assume that the warrior-like Iraqis would willingly and voluntarily give up their hard-won independence and exchange the satisfactory Anglo-Iraq treaty for Axis domination.

  OIL THE BIG ISSUE

  First among these factors is the battle for oil and the long cherished German ambition of a Berlin-to-Baghdad route first promulgated by the ex-Kaiser upon his visit to the tomb of Saladin in Damascus at the turn of the century. The Mosul fields supply about four million tons of crude oil annually. The concession for this coveted prize is held by an Anglo-Dutch-American company which pays a royalty to the Iraq Government, but it is possible, though purely conjectural, that a more liberal partnership may have been offered by Nazi agents in the event of a British defeat. Other oil wells are located in Bahrein along the Persian Gulf, and control of the Persian Gulf opens the pathway to India.

  It may be a mere coincidence that the coup in Iraq took place soon after the Arab conference convoked by Ibn Saud at Ryadh last March. But shortly after this conference the nationalist agitation in Syria was resumed, and it is possible that both these events are parts of the Arab program for the complete independence of all Arab States and the creation of a United States of Arabia.

  F. I. Shatara.

  Brooklyn, April 23, 1941.

  APRIL 28, 1941

  GREECE 14th STATE FALLING TO REICH

  Nazis’ Occupation Of Athens Brings 152,000,000 Of Other Peoples Under Germany

  With the occupation of Athens yesterday the fourteenth nation to come under the domination of Germany in a little more than three years fell to Adolf Hitler. He has now become master of 767,305 square miles of “Lebensraum,” or more than three times the 182,471 square miles that compose the German Reich. The lands under German domination contain a population of 152,028,036, or nearly twice the 79,375,281 population of Germany.

  All but three of the nations were conquered by armed invasions and the three, Hungary, Rumania and Bulgaria, capitulated to “diplomatic control,” as German armed forces massed at their borders.

  The following is a timetable of the German military and diplomatic conquests:

  1938

  Austria—34,064 square miles, population 8,009,014. Absorbed into Germany by invasion in March.

  Sudentenland of Czecho-Slovakia—Occupied by Germany after the Munich Pact, October.

  1939

  Czecho-Slovakia—44,500 square miles, population 13,000,000, including the Sudetenland. Occupied in March, with Bohemia and Moravia organized as a Protectorate of Germany.

  Poland—74,254 square miles, population 22,400,000. Invaded and conquered, September, as Britain and France declared war on Germany. Eastern Poland, about 78,000 square miles with a population of 12,775,000, was occupied by Soviet Russia.

  1940

  Denmark—16,575 square miles, population 3,800,000. Occupied in April.

  Norway—124,556 square miles, population 3,000,000. Invaded in April, conquest completed in June.

  Luxembourg—999 square miles, population 300,000. Occupied in May.

  The Netherlands—12,000 square miles, population 8,728,569. Occupied in May.

  Belgium—11,775 square miles, population 8,386,553. Invaded and conquered in May.

  France—127,000 square miles, population 27,900,000. Invaded in May, conquered in June. (The figures are for the area occupied by German forces.)

  Hungary—59,830 square miles, population 13,507,000. German troops sent to the country under an arrangement for diplomatic control, November.

  Rumania—72,425 square miles, population 14,100,000. Occupied by troops for diplomatic control, November.

  1941

  Bulgaria—42,808 square miles, population 6,500,000. Occupied by troops for diplomatic and military control, March.

  Yugoslavia—95,558 square miles, population 16,200,000. Invaded and conquered, April.

  Greece—50,257 square miles, population 7,196,900. Invaded and conquered, April.

  MAY 1, 1941

  RUSSIA REPORTED BOLSTERING LINES

  Said to Be Increasing Forces in Ukraine, Poland and Estonia Against Reich

  By DANIEL T. BRIGHAM

  By Telephone to The New York Times.

  BERNE, Switzerland, April 30—Threatened in the south with the closing of the Dardanelles, because of
a vacillating Turkey, and in the north by the reported recent arrival of a German armored division at Abo, in Finland, Russia was reported here today to be taking extensive steps for the immediate bolstering of already strong Soviet forces in the Ukraine, Poland and Estonia in preparation for a worsening of Russian-German relations in the near future, which, it is said, might even lead to war.

  These measures are understood to include the rushing of another twenty-five Russian divisions to join the reported forty already strung along the Dniester and Pruth Rivers from Lwow to Odessa. In the same region the Russians recently amassed so much aviation material that it was reported a German inquiry was made in Moscow to ascertain the reason. The inquirer was informed that between 600 and 700 first-line bombers and a considerable number of pursuit ships were there for the purpose of “spraying the wheat crops this Spring.”

  In Estonia it is understood no attempts are being made to conceal the defensive preparations of Russian long-range artillery on the southern shores of the Gulf of Finland. With approximately twenty divisions in the neighborhood, the Russian High Command is understood to be moving another fifteen to twenty to protect its newly acquired territories of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania.

  REPORTED JOINING RUSSIANS

  Meanwhile in the seized Polish territory the Russians are understood to have won over “a considerable number” of the conquered Poles in Russian-occupied territory, who are reported to have joined Russian ranks in the hopes of getting revenge for the German assault on their territory—freely promised by local Russian commanders.